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Before even extrapolating how refrain will go, the major problem is to see what method did they use for the "loops".
While there is a little margin to do a continuous storytelling a la clannad, I don't see it working that well, especially when you have Yuiko and Rin1 endings. That said, I really hope they won't resort to omnibus/branching (Yosuga no Sora style), as it will just be a headache to follow, and will miss the "loop grind" point.

The best scenario would be a double 2 cour setup, but at this point, we can sort of guess how it will go after Komari's route.

I repeat: common route is crucial. It highlights the Little Busters as who they are and what it means to be one of them. Remember the opening? "The irreplaceable one existed there." As long as the audience is shown the tight bond that develops among the nine, the spoiler route will make a great impact.

The heroine routes are no less important, but by themselves aren't crucial in my opinion to the overall theme. Each of them however holds clues to the nature of the spoiler world, and insights to the character, but no more than that.

If you go by that then yeah refrain probably wont get the after story treatment. It'll be 3 episodes just like the other routes sadly. Which will not end well.

I think that Refrain will get its own season XD;; The 5 episodes for the common route are just the bare minimum episodes it can get as the 4th common route episode can introduce Kud/Mio and the 5th one as the baseball game and pancake party. I didn't factor in scenes that can be used to establish the friendship of the old and new Little Busters! like kick the can, newspaper swords, the puppet show, and test of courage. Also, I didn't include the fact that there may be half an episode or so of skimming the common route/showing Riki and Rin's building confidence after a reset (which should happen at least once after Kurugaya's)

Thinking on the information shared by Shiina, and the speculation that the Komari route be rewritten to somehow include Rin, it is still my opinion that the fourth or fifth episode is still too soon. Realistically, from Rin and Riki's standpoint, they aren't even "Friends" yet. It'd take some major bonding before that to establish at least Rin's relationship.

And as we all know, the bond between Komari and Rin is the strongest among the girls. The anime has to make it so or the spoiler route will take a major blow.

The heroine routes are no less important, but by themselves aren't crucial in my opinion to the overall theme. Each of them however holds clues to the nature of the spoiler world, and insights to the character, but no more than that.

I think that's a pretty good point. Let's assume we're getting a two cour adaptation. In that case, I think it would work out best had they not done any of the character routes--we could have had common/Rin2/Refrain. That would preserve the core story. The only downside of this approach is the viewer would not be able to discover the mystery until they are told the answer in Rin2/Refrain. However, hints could be dropped along the way. Maybe only Komari's will be adapted? It's a longshot but...

Based on the new information, there is a lot of cause for worry , heh... It really does feel too soon for a character route. The whole point of Little Busters is having fun with the characters and bonding with them, so that once the character routes set in (especially the twist at the end of rin 1), you feel shocked. It's a huge impact when that bubble of security is shattered. Well, this was my experience playing the game anyway, I guess it's naive to imagine them adapting it in such a miraculous way, eheheh.

I'd like it if Rin had a larger role in each of routes and helped each girl with their problems alongside Riki. She's more of a second protagonist than a heroine, in a way. And the staff has mentioned repeatedly in interviews that they're focusing more on friendship than romance. I have no clue how that would work out with Anego's route, though.

I don't see how it is even possible, considering Rin has her own character development to go through, and she basically has no interactions with anyone save Komari and perhaps Kudo. I can't see her trying to get close to Haruka, let alone Yuiko.
In fact, I say it would be a tad too unnatural for her to have an active role for the other girls' routes.

Basically... they're probably going to show the individual character routes during the Common Route in order to save time... and serve as a double meaning that there is multiple canonical loopings going on.

Pretty unusual for a Key series having a girlish looking protagonist with a female seiyuu instead of the cool one’s we’re used to. I somehow feel that Kyosuke is most suited as the MC.

Oh, I'm already feeling the itches to tell that Kyosuke is "indeed" the MC with Riki as main "heroine" . I mean, Refrain was totally Kyosuke's/ Riki's route lol. Damn it why am I acting like a fujoshi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyousuke

Riki, I love you

When are we going to have this bit in the anime I wonder, I kind of forgot when this event takes place in the game

So there's this post in the General Anime Discussion thread
Oh, I'm already feeling the itches to tell that Kyosuke is "indeed" the MC with Riki as main "heroine" . I mean, Refrain was totally Kyosuke's/ Riki's route lol. Damn it why am I acting like a fujoshi.

When are we going to have this bit in the anime I wonder, I kind of forgot when this event takes place in the game

The confession scene? Haha, it takes place when you choose to not get raped by the girls. My guess is they're gonna go with the more hetero route than the yaoi route, ahaha.

I've recently come to liken the relationship between Riki and Kyousuke to that of Simon and Kamina from Gurren Lagann. Think about it.

They have to do it somehow... If you want to adapt Refrain, you can't not include the looping.
...right?

They could reduce the number of loops, perhaps drastically.

A few months ago, Key dropped a few hints on how Little Busters could be adapted (essentially, they supplied the anime scriptwriter with their preferred methodology; they already came up with a plan last year when they were still negotiating with producing companies), and it was pretty clear that they weren't interested in a 1:1 translation.

One of their hints was that they would expand the relationships between Rin and the other girls. To me, this seemed to imply that loops would be reduced in a favour of a single continuity encompassing multiple heroine stories (i.e. instead of having Rin develop by experiencing multiple iterations of the same events, she develops her bonds over time as she gets to know the girls, help them with their problems, etc. The loop concept could then be introduced after).

When are we going to have this bit in the anime I wonder, I kind of forgot when this event takes place in the game

The actual quote by Kyousuke is spoken during the "faux confession" scene in the cafeteria, wherein they pass the responsibility from one member to another. It ends with Masato holding the figurative hot potato, with neither Kengo nor Rin willing to take it.

What happens in the boys' Saturday Night Fever though is a glimpse into Riki's feelings about Kyousuke...